Why power outages persist, by Ikeja Electric

THERE seems to be more than meet the eyes over the prevailing epileptic power supply, as the distribution companies (discos) continued to pass the buck to generation companies (gencos) for inadequate energy allocation.

Specifically, the Ikeja Electric is the latest of the 11 discos to attribute the current power interruption across its network to low power allocation from the national grid.

The Chief Executive Officer, Abiodun Ajifowobaje, in a statement made available to The Guardian recently, said that in the last one week, the average power allocation to Ikeja Electric was 350 Mega Watts (MW) as against minimum load demand of 1,250 MW.

This situation however amounts to a shortfall of about 900MW, which is compelling the firm to resort to load-shedding.

Ajifowobaje explained: “The huge shortfall is seriously affecting the operation of the company as it has to resort to load-shedding, which is having adverse effect on both Ikeja Electric and the customers in terms of man hour being used to carry out load-shedding as well as service delivery to customers,”

He however assures that the company will ensure that the power allocation will be equitably distributed to all its customers. While appealing for customers’ understanding, the Ajifowobaje said that efforts have been stepped up to ensure that electrical faults are cleared promptly and urged customers to report such through its contact center and Ikeja Electric offices.

In another development, Ajifowobaje has decried the activities of individuals who connect electricity illegally into their premises without paying electricity bills.

Describing such persons as “energy thieves”, he explained that their activities affect the billing of other customers “as the energy allocated to an area is measured and people may be paying for the power being consumed by the energy thieves.”

“We have put a process in place to migrate individuals involved in this practice into our network. However, we seek the cooperation of Community leaders and customers in our efforts to eradicate energy theft and ensure quality service delivery for all customers within the Ikeja Electric network,” he added.

Meanwhile consumers have continued to groan under epileptic power supply from the company, lamenting its effects on their business and domestic activities.

A consumer in Gowon Estate, Ipaja, Mrs. Ajayi Alake, who deal on confectioneries said the power outages has almost crumble her business as she relies on self power generator to run her business.